Daufuskie Island lots sold for $12,000-$22,500

A Daufuskie Island lot that a Pennsylvania couple purchased for more than $200,000 about a decade ago was sold again for less than $12,000.

And that’s fine, said the S.C. Court of Appeals on Wednesday. The three-judge panel upheld a lower ruling that supported the foreclosure sale.

But the conflict may be more than a simple case of out-of-towners skipping out on association fees.

In fact, the dispute may be a symptom of the longstanding challenges faced by the island over how to support development by providing reliable ferry transit to and from the mainland.

William and Michele Ashton of Pennsylvania purchased the lot on the bridgeless island between Tybee and Hilton Head in 2001 for $201,500. They missed association payments, and it was sold in 2012 at a foreclosure sale for $8,800.

An additional $2,793 was added for back assessments, although county property records list the sale price as $8,800.

The couple said their due process rights were disregarded and that the $11,600 price was so low as to shock the conscience.

In the meantime, Bloody Point fell on hard times and began bankruptcy proceedings.

“As part of that financial difficulty, most if not all of the services being provided to the property owners by the Bloody Point Property Owners Association … were either significantly curtailed or eliminated completely,” wrote the Ashton’s lawyers.

The couple received a letter from the association, “informing them that Bloody Point had gone ‘belly up,’ and that the golf course had been shut down,” they continued.

The association stopped collecting regime fees and providing services to the property owners for a period of time, according to Ashton’s lawyers. The opposing attorneys said that wasn’t the case, and on Thursday, association president Tony Simonelli also said it wasn’t true.

The association started foreclosure proceedings against the Ashtons in 2011 after a lien for payment of association dues and fees.

But living in Pennsylvania made it difficult to notify the Ashtons, and they later argued they were not properly served.

At that time, sales activity had chilled in the community, there was a glut of property, and there was “a substantial decline in lot prices due to high levels of foreclosures and motivated sellers,” said the association’s attorneys.

Three comparable lots had sold for $15,000, $22,500 and $17,500, according to court filings.

Simonelli said those three other lots must have been elsewhere on the eight-square-mile island, not Bloody Point. He said the Ashtons’ former lot was the lone exception and another Bloody Point lot had sold for $150,000 just recently.

Bloody Point returns

Some see the island’s financial straits as directly linked to its fragmented public transportation system. As some tell it, higher operating costs and barriers to entry, along with difficulty wooing potential homeowners and investors, have been hobbling Daufuskie for years.

In April of last year, Kevin McCarthy, chief executive officer of the island’s Bloody Point Golf Club and Resort, joined an array of regional leaders and state politicians to press the U.S. Department of Transportation for grant money to fund a study of a comprehensive public ferry system.

“In June 2011, we had the opportunity to purchase the assets of the bankrupt Bloody Point Club, with the hopes of helping contribute to Daufuskie’s future,” McCarthy wrote.

“In the years we’ve visited Daufuskie, we have witnessed multiple club and resort bankruptcies and the economic despair on the island that accompanied them.”

He argued: “Despite our greatest efforts, however, the chance for longterm sustainability of Bloody Point is severely restricted by the lack of an island-wide ferry system.”

Beaufort County is expected to be notified next month if its grant proposal was successful in winning $325,000 for a ferry study.

Simonelli said there are six daily round-trips from Bloody Point to Savannah for members and guests. The county also provides some service to the general public, but it’s largely viewed as too infrequent.

As for Bloody Point, Simonelli hailed its return under its new ownership.

“Bloody Point is in very good shape,” Simonelli said Thursday.

“The resort is back. Everything is back.”

‘Critical to the future’

Although the association was named in Wednesday’s appeal, its treasurer Rich Silver said Thursday they weren’t directly involved in the appeal, which he said was between the old owner and the new owner.

Silver echoed some of McCarthy’s warnings.

“It’s critical to the future success and development of the island to have a viable ferry service available to the public, especially for the island residents who are not members of private clubs,” said Silver.

But the idea of any mass transit to Daufuskie has chafed against others who prize the island’s exclusivity. Would islanders have to sacrifice some privacy to make way for public transit?

“I don’t think so, personally,” said Silver. “But I know some people may disagree.”

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